


More Than Was Expected

by NathanielCardeu



Category: Doctor Who (2005), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-12
Updated: 2019-06-12
Packaged: 2020-05-02 00:43:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,338
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19188463
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NathanielCardeu/pseuds/NathanielCardeu
Summary: Hermione is going on holiday. It’s taken a while to organise it but, finally, the day has arrived! It would be a shame if someone swapped her Portkey for something different, even if their intentions are good.





	More Than Was Expected

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaeilgeRua](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaeilgeRua/gifts).



> Written for Hermione's Haven 'Off The Beaten Path' fic exchange (OffTheBeatenPath19)
> 
> My first foray into the Whoverse! Hope you find this enjoyable :)

 

"Here you are, madam," the flustered looking official said, passing Hermione the small box and a form, "if you could sign here, and here, and initial here…?"

 

Hermione plucked the quill from the woman's hand and quickly scribbled her name on the form where indicated. The line behind her was large, and getting longer all the time. The summer holidays were always fraught and the last thing Hermione wanted was to upset the already stressed out clerks.

 

"Okay," the clerk said with a smile that looked more like a grimace, "the Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation has countersigned the request, all is in readiness, and your Portkey will leave in…" She looked at the large clock on the wall behind her. "Uhh, one and a half hours. Please be sure to hold tight to the object until your feet come down on solid ground, letting go prematurely could result in injury, paralysis, or death. The Ministry will not be held responsible for injuries resulting from poor Portkey usage..."

 

Hermione half listened, her foot tapping slightly, as the clerk rattled through the standard disclaimer. _It's not like I've never done this before,_ she thought with an inward sigh, her polite smile fixed and rigid.

 

Eventually, the clerk stopped and nodded. "All agreed? Good, sign here, please."

 

Hermione jotted her name down again and the clerk flicked her wand at the form, the motion rolling the paper up and sending it flitting away.

 

"Thank you, enjoy your trip. NEXT!"

 

There was, Hermione mused as she waited in another queue--this one for the fireplaces to Floo home--nothing stopping her from making her own Portkey. It was a simple enough enchantment, and it would cut down on all the forms and meetings, and most of all, the waiting! There were consequences for that though: unofficial Portkey creation was heavily fined if you were caught. She had got this far without a blemish on her record, and she would be damned if she was going to risk her rise to Minister over a holiday! She supposed that travelling to another country _should_ be properly regulated if only to prevent people from messing around in that country and then leaving a mess behind.

 

Stepping out of the Floo, she placed the box on her kitchen table, within easy reach.

 

Hermione didn’t plan on making a mess, just some peaceful memories. It had been a long time since she'd had a holiday--a _real_ holiday, not a wild, hectic dash through a foreign city, wondering what was going to happen next--and she was looking forward to this one. She was seeing her parents for two weeks in the Australian sunshine. They'd see the sights, eat the food, and drink cocktails. There would be absolutely no running!

 

Her watch beeped, reminding her of the imminent Portkey departure and she grabbed her beaded bag. A quick, last minute check confirmed that she had everything. She opened the patio doors and stepped out onto the balcony, the small box in hand.

 

Crookshanks glared at her from the kitchen counter, his heavy eyebrows lowered.

 

"Don't look at me like that, Crooks," she said, rolling her eyes and fishing the small Portkey from the box. "Ron and Pansy have promised to come and look after you every day. Pansy adores you, and you enjoy all the fuss, don’t try to deny it! Besides, you know you can't travel by Portkey. You wouldn't be able to hang onto it! I mean, this one’s smaller than usual… This thing is so small that I'm worried that I… won't…"

 

She finally saw the Portkey properly, really _saw_ it. It was about the size of a mobile phone and it lay in her hand like a snake: a blue, cuboid, venomous snake with the word ‘Police’ along the top edge of all four sides.

 

"No…" she whispered. "No, you promised you'd give me space!"

 

Three and a half years she had spent with that man and his amazing box. Forty-two months of her life wondering if this was a good thing, if the things she had seen were some sort of delusion, whether it was all real; whether _he_ was real. She had lost count of the times she had nearly died, or saved another person’s life, or nearly died saving someone’s life. They had saved an entire solar system once.

 

She should drop it. Just let it fall to the floor. Let it vanish when the time came, much as _he_ was wont to do.

 

That thought hardened her expression and she gripped the little model tighter. She had gotten very good at running during those years, something you picked up quickly with him. Not this time.

 

"Damn it, you promised me!" she shouted, frustrated, just as her watch beeped again. The Portkey gave a small pulse and she was yanked backwards, off of the balcony and into the air, vanishing with a slight pop.

 

~~~

 

She stared around in wonder. A field of the most vibrant green grass surrounded her, wildflowers nodding in the warm breeze. The hillside field looked out over a massive city, skyscrapers reaching for the clouds, all set in a neat semicircle around a white sand beach. The water was crystal clear, bright blue and shimmering. The sun sat, partially hidden behind the range of large, flat-topped mountains that sat off the shore, a few hundred metres out. To her left, the land continued across other fields and trees, to a range of mountains.

 

It was bright, verdant, warm. Peaceful.

 

Except for the picnic basket and blanket set a few feet away. She recognised it, her heart giving a painful thud in her chest. For the briefest of moments, she had allowed herself to hope…

 

“Do you like it?”

 

She didn't jump, though the man behind her had spoken abruptly, and she didn't turn around. Closing her eyes she let the tear fall, swallowing the lump in her throat. “It’s beautiful," she said. "Where am I?”

 

“Honolulu," he said, a little closer now. "You always said you wanted to go there.”

 

“This isn’t Earth though, is it.”

 

“Um…”

 

“There are two moons. One behind that volcano,” she said, pointing behind her without looking, “and one just disappearing behind the city. The Honolulu on Earth doesn't have a dozen mountains just off the beach either.”

 

“That’s what I always liked about you, Granger. Observant. Quick!”

 

“Angry.”

 

“Pardon?” His boyish voice took on a note of panic.

 

“You promised me space.”

 

“I took you all over space, and time…”

 

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” Her voice was tight, words clipped. This was typical of him.

 

There was a pause, and then, “I gave you that sort of space too.”

 

Hermione gave an exasperated huff. “I asked for more than a fortnight! I need more than two bloody weeks to process what… we are. Or were... might be.”

 

“Hermione… I haven’t seen you for five years.”

 

She laughed. There was no humour in it. “So you managed to give yourself space? You drag me back exactly two weeks after the point where I asked for time and distance from you…?”

 

“Distance, time, space… it’s all relative.”

 

She could actually _hear_ him waving his hands around, and hers clenched.

 

“I was… worried?” he said. “Well, not worried... I don’t worry, generally speaking… waste of time, worrying. Can’t change anything by _worrying_ at it.”

 

Hermione tried to keep her breathing even. He was drifting off on a tangent and she was _not_ going to do what she normally did to get him back on track. She wasn’t sure she could even look at him yet.

 

“I was thinking about you,” he said, and her heart jumped again, painfully. “I tried to forget, but even being halfway across the universe... I don’t think it was far enough. Maybe it was never going to be far enough. I never forget a face, you know."

 

Another tear trickled down her cheek and she brushed it away quickly. With a sigh, she turned around. He had barely changed; same rangy boyish look, blue trousers and suspenders over a pale cream shirt and ever present matching bowtie.

 

“Hello you,” he said with a smile.

 

She frowned, tilting her head on one side. "What is… _that_?" she said, pointing at his face.

 

Instantly, he seemed to animate, springing forward with an excited glint in his eyes.“This?” He plucked the circle of glass from his eye and brandished it at her. “It's a monocle!”

 

“I can see that-”

 

“I wear a monocle now. Monocles are cool! Used to wear one, long time ago. They're making a comeback!"

 

"They're really not."

 

"Not on Earth, no. Shame really, very suave. And practical. Helps with the weakness in one eye-"

 

"What do you want, Doctor? I'm supposed to be on holiday in Australia, relaxing in the sun. On Earth!"

 

"I thought you might like a picnic? Picnics are cool, right? It’s what normal people do in the summer.” He held up a finger, stalling her retort. “Before you refuse, I brought you here because it is, basically, Hawaii in space and you said you wanted to go.” He gestured towards the city and, as she turned to look, began to set out the picnic, speaking rapidly. “This is Honolulu 4, out in a quiet corner of the Recarlis system. It’s summertime and the weather is always great this time of year. Lovely people, the Honolunians! Great beaches, clean cities, no concept of personal space. You’ll get a lot of hugs if you go into town, so brace yourself! I brought some nice stuff from many of the different planets we’ve been to in our time. A little walk down memory lane as we go-”

 

“Almost no time has passed since I _lived_ on memory lane!” she snapped, turning back towards him. “You may have had five years to think about things, but I’ve barely-”

 

Her voice was stopped by his mouth, hands tangling in her hair as he closed the distance between them in a rush. All her resistance evaporated in a moment, her anger little more than a soap bubble on a pin. She moaned into his mouth as the kiss deepened, her hands grabbing the lapels of his jacket and pulling him closer.

 

She stared into his bright, vibrant eyes, seeing a thousand stars and planets, lives and people within them. "That's my trick to stop _you_ talking," she murmured.

 

"I know," he said. "I've missed it, decided to give it a go. Works well."

 

Hermione nodded, resting her forehead against his. "I don't know if I can keep doing this, Doctor."

 

"The kissing, the picnics, or the travelling to distant planets and times, saving the day and looking cool whilst doing it?"

 

A quiet breath of laughter escaped her and she closed her eyes.

 

"Hermione," he said hesitantly, "I've lived a long time. Met and loved many people. Do you know what I've learned about that wild and fiery emotion? It's never a bad thing to feel. It might be inconvenient, unlooked-for, even scary sometimes. But there has never been a time where love… real, felt in the pit of the stomach, and the tips of every part of you love. That sort of love, when returned, is better than any feeling in the universe, and more powerful than you can imagine."

 

"Doctor…?"

 

"What I'm trying to say, Hermione Granger, is that… Well, I'm pretty sure that I…"

 

He faltered then, looking around him, eyes wide and searching. Hermione felt it too then: the ground was shaking.

 

"Doctor, what's going on?" Her voice was trembling, from his words or the sudden earthquake she wasn't sure right now, but she was feeling scared as she looked for the source of the quake: it felt close, not a shifting of tectonic plates but something else. Something… big.

 

"No," the Doctor moaned, "it's too soon! We should have hours yet!" He jumped to his feet, flipping the picnic basket closed and looking out to sea. "That's the Baked Alaska ruined for sure."

 

"What do you mean, 'we should have had hours'?" Hermione stood, her face heating in sudden annoyance. "You _knew_ this was going to happen, didn't you?"

 

"No! Yes. Sort of?" He tilted his head from side to side as he fished his sonic screwdriver out of his pocket. He pointed it out towards the mountains in the bay for a moment, then studied the readings. "Amazing!” he breathed. “Hermione, do you see?"

 

"No, I don't, and I don't think I want to, frankly! What have you set up?” She threw up her hands in aggravation. “I wanted a nice quiet holiday, with my parents-"

 

"Oh, we can do that after! This is much more fun, isn't it?" He grabbed her shoulders and turned her towards the water, pointing at the mountain range. "Those weren't there last night."

 

Despite herself, Hermione felt her interest pique. "They weren’t? Where did they come from?"

 

"No idea,” he said with barely suppressed glee. “The Honulunians woke up to find them out there. Staring at them!" He smiled wildly, flashing his perfect teeth. "Yep, they’ve got eyes! Come on, we've got to go and see!"

 

"Doctor!" she yelled as he bounded away across the field. "Damn it!" She could hear him laughing and rolled her eyes. _Bloody man!_ She gave chase, trying to keep up as he almost flew down the gentle slope.

 

"You don't want the fun to start without us, do you?" he shouted over his shoulder.

 

It took them ten minutes to reach the beach at the bottom of the hill. The Doctor took another reading with his screwdriver as Hermione pulled up behind him, breathing hard.

 

"Whatever it is, they’re waking up from some sort of stasis. Probably how they travelled through space. Seismic activity is increasing…"

 

They both staggered, hanging onto each other as the ground undulated beneath them. Hermione felt that familiar thrill of excitement chase through her: something was afoot, and they were going to stand in its way if it meant ill. It amazed her just how easily she had fallen back into it. _So much for needing space!_

 

"Did I tell you about the first time I met you?" he asked, taking her hand.

 

"What do you mean, tell me? I was there! You told me that you needed my help, and only I would do."

 

"No, that's the first time you meet me. The first time _I_ met you, you slapped me, then kissed me. Said I'd thrown you into a space rift to save you from giant rock monsters that were terrorising a peaceful planet!"

 

"Wait, the first time you met me… you met a future version of me first?”

 

“More common than you might believe with time travel!”

 

“It’s been three and a half years and you never thought to mention any of this before now?" She frowned at his stupid, grinning, beautiful face.

 

"Would you have agreed to travel with me?"

 

"If I'd known you were eventually going to sacrifice me on one of your wild adventures? No, of course not!"

 

"Exactly!"

 

"You are _not_ throwing me into any kind of rift, Doctor!"

 

"I got you home again. You said you definitely wanted a break this time." He winked, straightening his bow tie and fitting his monocle again. "Should be a short trip, like a safe wormhole. Drop in and pop back out! Who knows, you might see some brilliant things on the way through. You never told me, by the way. Maybe I’ll finally get to hear about them..."

 

Hermione stared at him, open-mouthed. "No."

 

"Oh yes! Sorry, my dear, but it's necessary, apparently. I don't know why, though. You said you didn't see what I did afterwards, so I have no idea if I succeeded or not. Maybe I died! Maybe I _won’t_ get to hear all about it." He grimaced. “That’d be a shame. I quite like this face now I’ve got used to it...”

 

"That's not funny!"

 

His lips were on hers again, a kiss that pulled at her soul and made her toes tingle. It really was impossible to stay angry when the man could kiss you like that! It shouldn’t be allowed. Something passed between them, something indefinable, strange… wonderful.

 

“Come along, Granger!” he shouted, his voice distant.

 

She blinked, reality coming back in a rush. He was already running up the beach, accelerating away from her, sand kicking up under his heels. _How did he move so fast?_

 

“Doctor, wait!” she shouted after him. He didn’t answer, continuing to sprint. “DOCTOR!” she screamed, giving chase.

 

“Geronimo!”

 

~~~

 

**Fourteen hours later:**

 

Hermione flinched as the wind pulled another Honolunian from the walkway below and hurled them into the abyss above. The gale howled around her, whipping her hair back and forth, and she narrowed her eyes against the force of it. Debris span around the chamber, ricocheting off of the scenery, barely missing them. Fire bloomed as the various escape craft exploded, none of them getting much past the massive cave mouth before being swatted and destroyed.

 

“Doctor!” she called, looking up and raising her voice over the noise of the planet dying around them. “You have to get out of here, and get them to safety too! You need to let me go!”

 

“Not a chance!” he yelled back. He was laid on the cold metal floor above, half on the walkway, half off. His feet were hooked around the railings, arms outstretched holding her wrist in a vice like grip. Staring around wildly, he looked for a solution, a way out; a _different_ way out. He looked down at her again. Then past her to the void a mile below their precarious position on the rickety metal gantry. “I’m not letting you fall! That's not a space rift, that's the time vortex. If you go in there you'll be lost for years! The energy could kill you, I’ve seen it happen! There’s another way, there has to be: there’s _always_ another way!”

 

“Not this time! You gave them their chance to back down, to change, and they threw it in your face. I have to do this. My magic is the only thing that can bypass the security protocols, not even your screwdriver works on it. And as I’m the only witch around for a few billion miles…”

 

A shrieking Honolunian clawed at her legs, desperately trying to save itself as it swirled past her. Viciously, she kicked out at it. Her heel caught it on the chin and she watched as it cartwheeled downwards for a moment before being batted against the chamber walls by a giant, rocky hand.

 

 _Snivelling little bastards_ , Hermione thought savagely.

 

She had no love for them now, despite their outward sweet disposition when they had arrived in the city. They had been delighted to accept their help against the invading mountains at first, but the more she had poked around, the more depravity and horror she had seen that made her sick to her stomach. As for the massive chambers below the city where they ‘made sand’... Even the Doctor had blanched at that. She had never seen him so angry!

 

The Honolunians had spent centuries as slavers and overseers to the peaceful Obeliskians--the mountain-sized aliens that had been in the bay when she had arrived--exploiting their strength to power their planet, grinding up the weak or old to form the perfect white sand for their beaches. It was only because of a stranger’s help that one of the slaves finally managed to rebel and pull off a successful jailbreak, rising up and taking control of the prison moon. Gathering others, they landed on Honolulu 4 and attacked the city, intending on grinding up their oppressors.

 

“Doctor, let me go.” She slipped her wand from its holster, holding it ready. “This is the last device. Once it’s destroyed the planet will tear itself apart and be dragged into the time vortex. Only you can convince the Obeliskians to escape before it all goes off. You’ll have five minutes after I do this.”

 

“Wonderful thing, magic,” the Doctor said, staring up at the ferocious Obeliskian that was currently smashing the Honolunian Mayor’s escape craft against the rock face. “I don’t get to see all that much of it without you around. Not the peaceful summer holiday you were hoping for, is it?”

 

She could see a sliver of acceptance in his eyes and smiled sadly. “Not exactly, no. Still… it's not every day you get to overthrow an oppressive race of aliens, destroy their planet, and liberate a peaceful race of giant mountains. _And_ I get to do a swan dive freefall into the time vortex without a capsule… More exciting than barbies on the beach and the Sydney Opera House!”

 

“I’m glad you were here.”

 

“I didn’t really have a choice, did I?” she said with a laugh, swallowing the lump of fear that threatened to burst out of her. The churning void below would swallow her and there was no telling where, or when, she would end up. She just had to control her descent, avoid the falling debris, escaping Honolunian ships, the Obeliskian’s fists, and destroy the device below as she fell past it. She couldn’t afford to miss. _No pressure_ , she thought. She gave him a cheeky grin and winked. "And before you ask, of course I’m going to lie to you when you meet me for the first time! Would you have brought me here today if you knew you'd have to let me do this?"

 

“I will find you,” he promised.

 

She nodded, a tear trickling down her cheek before being whipped away by the wind. “I know you will.”

 

The failing gantry gave another shudder, one of the support beams snapping off and flying into the air. It clattered off the rail, inches from the Doctor’s head. He didn’t flinch, his eyes fixed on hers.

 

“I’ll see you around, Doctor.“ There were tears in both their eyes now and Hermione blinked rapidly, wiping her face with the sleeve of her free hand. “Geronimo,” she whispered, and pulled her hand free.

 

~~~

 

**Fourteen Years Later**

 

Gulls wheeled and soared over the golden sand, called to each other and dove into the sea for fish. The palm trees that lined the beach nodded and waved in the warm breeze, casting shade over the woman in a bikini on the red and gold beach towel. She lay on her front, a book held open in front of her, sunglasses balanced on the end of her nose. She knew the book almost word for word, even though she hadn't read it in years. _Hogwarts: A History_ never lost its charm for her. Scars that hadn’t been there before decorated her back and arms; evidence of fights won and lost in the last few years.

 

All was peaceful and serene until a strange sound--a whooshing, swirling and groaning noise that sounded like nothing else the woman had ever encountered--broke the stillness. Her lips lifted in a pleased grin as she marked her place, setting the book aside. Rolling over and sitting up she pushed the sunglasses up her nose to watch the TARDIS materialise in the middle of the sandy beach.

 

“You found me then,” she called as the door opened and her heart did a funny little skip as he emerged.

 

“A small thing like separate planets or a few centuries can’t stop me, you know,” said the man in the light brown suit. “You got that holiday you wanted in the end? To the _actual_ Hawaii too. Brilliant!”

 

She nodded. “And you saved the Obeliskians?”

 

He shrugged with a deprecating smile. “Well, that bit was easy. Someone had already saved them, I just had to give them a push. Not easy when they're several hundred feet tall, of course, but they’re a nice species. Had a lot to say about you though, Granger. Said you saved them, twice. A lot of people talk about you, all over time and space. You've been busy!”

 

Hermione brushed her hair out of her face. “Time and distance are weird in the vortex. It wouldn't let me go, kept dragging me back. No telling where, or when I'd pop up.”

 

“Starting the rebellion on the prison planet above Honolulu 4. Hijacking a Royal freighter bearing a Gorton princess, on her way to an arranged marriage, and flying it across the galaxy so she can elope with her beloved--very Romeo and Juliet, by the way! Forcing two brothers to settle their differences and work to rule side by side on Yawchiss Alpha… That one was a stroke of genius. Many, many more. Their ‘bushy-haired angel’, the Brecatarians call you. ‘Scourge of the Delpinian Straits’ by the pirates of F’toocin Prime. Saviour, liberator, pirate?”

 

“All in a day’s work for a time travelling witch,” she said with a grin, standing and walking slowly towards him. “I felt a bit like Sam Beckett, hopping about all over the place. Just hoping each time that maybe, this time, I’ll appear in front of you and that you’ll take me home.”

 

"Are you ready to go home?"

 

"No rush. I still have another few days of my holiday left. Care to spend them with me?"

 

He smiled, stepping closer and putting his hands on her waist. "I think that would be brilliant."

 

Leaning forward she touched her lips to his, softly, tenderly. Nothing had changed despite the time and events between them. He still made her blood burn.

 

"Just one question. What is this?" She plucked the hat off of his head and dangled it between them.

 

"It's a flat cap, do you like it? I wear a flat cap now."

 

Hermione tilted her head and shrugged, a half smile on her lips. "Flat caps are cool," she murmured against his lips, their bodies melding together in the tropical sunshine.

 

**The End**

**Author's Note:**

> To my giftee: I had fun with this one. Sorry, it got a little Consuela'd, but that's just what she's like *shrug* I can't control her... Hope you liked it anyway, even if it wasn't as light and fluffy as it maybe should have been :)
> 
> Off The Beaten Path prompt:  
> MU 04  
> Prompt: Hermione's booked an international Portkey to take her on her long-awaited vacation, but when she lands, Hermione quickly realises that she's not in Australia like she planned. And what does the man in front of her have to do with her detour?
> 
> Managed to include a prompt from my Bingo Card, for Hermione's Haven Bingo 2019 (HHBingo19):  
> Bingo Square: I5 - “Turns out separate planets wasn’t far enough.”
> 
> Also, for those interested in more of my nonsense and would like sneak peeks of upcoming projects/fics etc--or even have an occasional say in what I'm writing--please join my Facebook Group - Writing, Music, Weirdness: The Nathaniel Cardeu Show (https://www.facebook.com/groups/167360040709268/?ref=bookmarks).  
> I'd be delighted to see you there!


End file.
